Which Comes First – The Chicken or the Egg?

Ok, So I’m now back into the perpetual conversation about SEO and Social Relationships. Which is first? Which is best? Which way do you go?

I just finished reading an article by a team member of a notable SEO company who mentioned that 20% of Google searches each day have never been searched before. That’s an interesting statistic.It means that 80% of the searches were deliberately directed towards topic specific resources.

The SEO folks will tell you, that by honing your messages you reel in customers and the SEO will show your successes. I get that.. and yes I agree – dialing and honing for specifics is a key to being the right fit for the right search at the right spot at the right time. But, I keep coming back to the notion that the first key strokes happen because 80% of the people have a topic in mind when they begin their search – … someone, something, or someplace has prompted someone to hit the keyboard and search. The initial seed had to be planted/prompted.

Therefore, I am someone who believes in relationship building, word of mouth: that the right word at the right time and the right place is the driver to initiate the initial search for the 80% with specific topics in mind. After they search the SEO can count their little heads and help hone better messages for the next push. The SEO can also help garner some of the elusive 20% by pure coincidence and increase the odds of being at the top search results all the way around. But as far as social media goes, SEO is secondary to the initial conversation and works in tandem with relationship building there after. The game has changed significantly.

Feathers or not, words come first.

The Google search engine has upgraded it’s intelligence (if that’s even possible) and ‘relative content’ is now royalty – it’s the royal flush of web search poker. Now search engines comb not only your website but all of your social media for inclusive relevancy. They’re smarter than smart with intuitive abilities, and they’re very quick. So now, one of the new strategies for SEO folks is to either find blog writers, become blog writers, promote blog writing, or tell companies to write a blog to boost relevancy for search engines – the SEO methods can work even better because they can ID social channels too.

My thoughts: Writers are surfacing as one of the most valuable and sought after components of successful online businesses. Their baiting words painted across social platforms connect with customer bases, project a sense of trust and truthfulness, and make people feel more secure with their decisions influenced by their online activities. A motivating writer has job security and is key to the future of your online business because head counters can’t count heads of people aren’t virtually inclined to show up.